Archive for the ‘Italy’ Category

UPDATE 6 (2011-11-18): An Australian Women’s team is unhappy with the way the DPRK doping scandal has erupted. Accoridng to the Herald Sun:

A doping storm surrounding the North Korea women’s soccer team has given the Matildas a glimmer of hope they will be able to compete at the London Olympic Games.

The Matildas failed to qualify for next year’s Games after finishing third in the Asian qualifying tournament in September behind Japan and North Korea.

But North Korea was contentiously allowed to contest the play-offs despite being banned by soccer’s ruling body FIFA following a doping scandal involving five players and a team doctor only three months earlier.

The furore erupted in the wake of this year’s World Cup in June and July when the five players tested positive to steroids, earning bans of up to 18 months.

The team doctor was barred for six years and the team was thrown out by FIFA until the 2015 World Cup.

But a FIFA disciplinary committee’s decision to penalise the Koreans in only the World Cup competition meant they were able to remain in Olympic contention.

The Matildas are furious at the decision, especially since no drug tests were taken at the Olympic qualifying tournament in China, where they endured a 1-0 loss to North Korea.

The Australian Olympic Committee has now asked the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Authority to clarify North Korea’s Olympic eligibility.

Ultimately, it is understood the IOC will bow to FIFA rulings because FIFA runs the Olympic tournament.

Football Federation Australia national teams chief John Boultbee said FFA had also asked WADA to appeal FIFA’s decision.

But the FFA is also yet to make any inroads.

“We think it’s strange that a team is banned for 2015 and not 2012 so we have raised the issue with WADA, the IOC and FIFA but so far to no avail,” Boultbee told AAP.

“We recognise there’s an element of self interest from our point of view because we were third in the qualification tournament but also we are not happy that what FIFA has found to be systematic doping, has not been dealt with in the most effective way.”

It’s believed Matildas players were initially instructed not to comment on the issue but they’ve opted to speak publicly because of their frustration with the situation.

Matildas captain Melissa Barbieri stressed the women’s side did not want to make excuses for their failed campaign but simply could not fathom why no drug testing was done at the qualifying tournament.

“It’s surprising to say the least, especially when a team has been caught with drugs in their system for the World Cup a month beforehand and to have no drug testing,” Barbieri said.

“They (North Korea) played better than us and we lost the game.

“But it plays on your mind – do you really believe that they didn’t have any drugs in their system when they were playing us as well? Who knows?”

While the five North Korean players banned at the World Cup did not take part in the Olympic qualification and cannot compete in London, veteran Matildas defender Thea Slatyer said she was concerned a host of new players had been brought into the squad but not tested.

Slatyer, who would have played her last international tournament in London, said the players had been left disheartened.

“We’re a very fair country. We’ve always played fair and played by the rules,” Slatyer said.

“… It does make you really upset to know that a team that has conducted this behaviour is kind of allowed to get away with not being tested.”

FIFA told AAP in a statement the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament had not been considered a priority for doping control.

“As due to logistical reasons, FIFA cannot conduct at all qualifying games doping controls,” the statement read.

“Therefore, an assessment is done by the FIFA Anti-Doping Unit and it is decided at which matches doping controls will be performed.”

UPDATE 5 (2011-8-25): The DPRK women’s team has been banned from the 2015 Women’s World Cup. According to USA Today:

FIFA banned North Korea from the 2015 Women’s World Cup after five players tested positive for steroids from traditional musk deer gland therapy at the tournament last month.

FIFA on Thursday imposed bans of up to 18 months on all five players, who North Korean officials said were treated with traditional therapy after being struck by lightning at a pre-tournament training camp.

North Korea’s soccer federation was fined $400,000, and team doctor Nam Jong Ae was banned for six years.

The fine “exactly corresponds to the prize money the association would have received for their 13th place in the final ranking of the Women’s World Cup in Germany,” FIFA said.

Defenders Song and Jong failed drugs tests before the World Cup game against Colombia. FIFA then tested the entire North Korean team after its final match.

FIFA’s disciplinary panel also banned Colombia backup goalkeeper Yineth Varon for two years for doping at the tournament.

The doping case was the most serious at a major FIFA tournament in 17 years.

In July, FIFA’s chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak said after extensive testing, “we can really say with far-reaching confidence that these steroids were the result of this so-callled Chinese traditional medicine.”

UPDATE 4 (2011-7-16): Once again, the North Koreans come up with a creative explanation for testing positive in doping tests. According to the Associated Press:

North Korea officials blame traditional medicine using musk deer glands for five of their players testing positive for steroids at the Women’s World Cup in soccer’s biggest doping scandal in nearly two decades.

Their loss to the US was due to being struck by lightning (see below).

UPDATE 3 (2011-7-16): Three more players have tested positive. According to Bloomberg:

Three more North Korean soccer players failed anti-doping tests given to the whole squad after two teammates failed a test earlier this month at the Women’s World Cup.

FIFA didn’t name the players or the substance in a statement today. All North Korean players were tested after Song Jong Sun and Jong Pok Sim were provisionally suspended July 7 before a game against Colombia in Bochum. The two had been tested after the team’s previous matches and the results received yesterday morning.

UPDATE 2 (2011-7-11): A new German language documentary has been released featuring may of the players and their training facilities. See it here.

UPDATE 1 (2011-7-7): Two members of the DPRK Women’s team have been suspended for doping. According to CNN:

World football’s governing body FIFA announced Thursday that two players from the North Korea side have been provisionally suspended from the Women’s World Cup after failing dope tests.

Jong Sun Song and Sim Pok Jong were prevented from playing in the tournament being held in Germany prior to their team’s Group C tie against Colombia in Bochum yesterday.

FIFA said in a statement that adverse “analytical findings” were present in “A” samples collected in two anti-doping tests conducted after the team’s previous matches.

The statement continued: “In accordance with article 58 of the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations … the whole Korea DPR team was required by FIFA to undergo an anti-doping test after yesterday’s match between Korea DPR and Colombia. The target testing of the entire Korea DPR team was coordinated with WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency].”

North Korea drew 0-0 with Colombia in their third and final game at the event in which they failed to score a goal; previous defeats to Sweden and the USA consigning the team to an early exit.

Colombia finished below North Korea to bottom Group C after also failing to score a goal in their three group games, a result which preceded the announcement from FIFA that a player from their squad was also subject to suspension.

“In total, there have been three adverse analytical findings in connection with the Women’s World Cup. The chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee [also] provisionally suspended the Colombian player Yineth Varon after an out-of-competition doping test conducted in Leverkusen on 25 June 2011.

“Disciplinary proceedings have since been opened and are still pending. FIFA would like to emphasize once again its determination to keep football free of doping.

“It is FIFA’s duty and will to protect players from harm and ensure that footballers can compete on an even playing field. FIFA is a reliable partner of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in the worldwide collaboration to safeguard the health of athletes and the spirit of fair competition,” the statement said.

Both North Korea and Colombia failed to progress from the group stage to the quarterfinals, the first of which will be played in Leverkusen when England take on France on Saturday.

This is one more sign that the North Koreans are just like everyone else—or rather, North Korean athletes respond to incentives in the same way as athletes from other countries. They just can’t afford the kind of staff that is sophisticated enough to beat the doping tests. Unlike some sports purists, I would just assume allow doping in competition.

ORIGINAL POST (2011-6-28): The US team wins 2-0. The DPRK gave the Americans a good game for the first half I am told.

Most interestingly, the DPRK coach blamed the loss on a lightning strike! According to the Los Angeles Times:

North Korea Coach Kim Kwang-Min had an extraordinary explanation for the loss.

“When we stayed in Pyongyang during training, our players were hit by lightning, and more than five of them were hospitalized,” he told the BBC.

“Some stayed in hospital and then came to Germany later than the rest of us. The goalkeeper and four defenders were most affected, and some midfielders as well. The physicians said the players were not capable of participating in the tournament.

“The fact that they played could be called abnormal, the result of very strong will.”

UPDATE (12/7/2010): Austrian convicted for yacht sale to DPRK. According to Reuters:

A Vienna court has fined an Austrian man 3.3 million euros ($4.4 million) over the sale of luxury goods, including yachts, believed destined for North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, a court official said Tuesday.

The businessman, who was not named, was also handed a nine-month suspended sentence late Monday for the dealings which violate an international trade embargo against Kim’s impoverished state, court official Christian Gneist said.

“The amount was 3.3 million euros because this was the amount he received as payment,” Gneist said. The trade violated U.N. sanctions against North Korea imposed over its nuclear bomb tests.

Working with a North Korean intermediary close to Kim, the Viennese man tried to procure two yachts and received payment for them, Gneist said.

Prosecutors also accused him of lining up eight top-end Mercedes-Benz S-Class cars and musical instruments including a Steinway grand piano for Pyongyang, Austrian daily Kurier reported.

The Austrian man pleaded guilty and told the court he had not realized what he was getting into, Kurier said.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with atomic bombs. I am not interested in politics. I am a businessman,” the paper quoted him as telling the court.

Italian financial police helped to break up the sale of the yachts last year, which prosecutors believed to be a birthday present for Kim. The Austrian bought them from the Azimut-Benetti boatyard, one of the world’s leading yachtmakers. Azimut-Benetti was not accused of wrongdoing and had cooperated fully in the investigation, Italian police have said.

The sale of luxury goods to North Korea is banned under a U.N. resolution in retaliation for the country’s nuclear testing program. The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted to widen its sanctions after North Korea’s nuclear test in May last year.

ORIGINAL POST (7/23/2009): According to Reuters (via Washington Post), UN sanctions have prevented the sale of two Italian yachts to the DPRK. To top it off, the DPRK purchaser lost the deposit! According to the article:

Financial police in the city of Lucca in central Italy said the vessels were worth nearly 13 million euros ($18 million) and had been purchased by an Austrian intermediary from the Azimut-Benetti boatyard, one of the world’s leading yachtmakers.

The Austrian intermediary then ceded the contract to a Chinese company, which in turn paid a Hong Kong business to take delivery of the vessels, police said.

“The difficulty was tracing it back to a violation of the sanctions,” said Colonel Antonio Leone, the Finance Police’s commander in Lucca. Asked if Kim was the intended final recipient of the vessels, he said: “It is an irrefutable fact.”

“There has been a thorough investigation, partly in Austria, backed up by confessions and investigative breakthroughs.”

The yachts were initially confiscated by Italy’s Economic Development Ministry but have since been returned to the boatyard, which has been allowed to keep the deposit.

Azimut-Benetti is not accused of wrongdoing and has cooperated fully in the investigation, police said.

The sale of luxury goods to North Korea is banned under a U.N. resolution in retaliation for the country’s nuclear testing program. The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted to widen its sanctions after North Korea’s May 25 nuclear test.

Given the complex chain of front companies involved in carrying out this transaction, the application of the UNSC resolution is a great illustration of what Haggard and Noland call “whac a mole“. The North Koreans will now attempt to reconstitute their trade and proliferation networks using new front companies. According to Haggard and Noland:

As a small country dependent on foreign trade and investment, North Korea should be highly vulnerable to external economic pressure. In June 2009, following North Korea’s second nuclear test, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1874, broadening existing economic sanctions and tightening their enforcement. However, an unintended consequence of the nuclear crisis has been to push North Korea into closer economic relations with China and other trading partners that show little interest in cooperating with international efforts to pressure North Korea, let alone in supporting sanctions. North Korea appears to have rearranged its external economic relations to reduce any impact that traditional sanctions could have.

Given the extremely high priority the North Korean regime places on its military capacity, it is unlikely that the pressure the world can bring to bear on North Korea will be sufficient to induce the country to surrender its nuclear weapons. The promise of lifting existing sanctions may provide one incentive for a successor government to reassess the country’s military and diplomatic positions, but sanctions alone are unlikely to have a strong effect in the short run. Yet the United States and other countries can still exercise some leverage if they aggressively pursue North Korea’s international financial intermediaries as they have done at times in the past.

Italian customs recently confiscated 420 bottles of expensive liquor on their way to North Korea. Italian newspaper Vivere Ancona said customs in the eastern port city seized 150 bottles of brandy and 270 bottles of whisky in containers destined for North Korea at the end of last month.

The confiscation follows a UN Security Council ban on the export of arms, high technology and luxury goods to North Korea after the communist country’s nuclear test in May. The liquor is reportedly worth 12,000 euro, but the brands were not identified.

In July, Italian customs seized two luxury yachts worth W23 billion ordered by North Korea (US$1=W1,222). At the time, the order was disguised as coming from a Chinese company, but the investigation revealed it had actually been made by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Still seeking access to the international financial system, Pyongyang has asked Macao authorities to transfer $25 million in funds to unnamed banks in Russia and Italy, signaling some progress in the deadlock over money held in a Macao bank.

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Dawei told Japanese lawmakers visiting Beijing that North Korea broached the idea, the Kyodo News Agency reported. Wu said that Macao authorities are trying to determine whether the move is possible.

South Korean government officials held out hope that the news could be a catalyst in finally resolving an issue that has been dragging on for weeks. “We are ready at anytime to move on; we are just waiting for the clouds to clear,” said one official. Italy was the first European country to open diplomatic ties with Pyongyang in 2000.

The dispute over the money led the North to miss the April 14 deadline for shutting down its main nuclear reactor.

In what was viewed as a major concession, Washington announced on April 10 that it supported measures by Macao to unblock the North Korean funds held in Banco Delta Asia. The U.S. had said the money was the result of illegal activities.

However, other than saying that it has taken notice of such measures, Pyongyang has delayed withdrawing the money. Instead, through state media, the North said it was looking to integrate itself into the international financial system rather than just retrieve the money.

With China and Macao entering the labor day holiday starting today, it could be a few days before any transfer takes place, the government official in Seoul conceded.

A source said that Pyongyang had also asked banks in Singapore, Vietnam and Mongolia to agree to a transfer but was rebuffed.

Washington has endorsed measures to unfreeze the funds, but it has not withdrawn its designation of Banco Delta Asia as a confirmed money launderer.